Higher demand for European cars pushes imported car sales up in S Korea
(02-05 14:48)
Imported car sales in South Korea jumped in January from a year earlier as consumers rushed to purchase European luxury car brands following the free trade deal, data by the local trade association showed Tuesday.
Sales of imported cars rose 30.8 percent to 12,345 vehicles in January compared with a year earlier, according to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA). The reading was up 15.8 percent from the month before, Xinhua news agency.
The double-digit growth came as South Korean consumers continued to buy foreign luxury brands following the free trade deal with the United States and Europe. A total of 9,935 European cars were sold here, taking up a market share of 80.4 percent. It was higher than Japanese brands with a 12.1 percent market share and the U.S. models with a 7.5 percent share.
German luxury carmaker BMW ranked first in terms of best- selling brand in January, with 3,266 vehicles sold here. It was followed by Mercedes-Benz with 1,939 units and Volkswagen with 1, 848 units. Audi ranked fourth with 1,811 units sold, and Ford came next with 549 units.
The most popular model was BMW's 520d with 980 vehicles sold, beating Tiguan 2.0 TDI BlueMotion made by Volkswagen with 588 units sold. It was followed by Mercedes-Ben's E300 with 340 units sold. "Despite the unfavorable seasonality, imported car sales were brisk thanks to demand for some brands," said Yoon Dae-sung, executive director of KAIDA.
By size, vehicles with an engine capacity of 2-liter or less were most popular, posting a 54.2 percent market share last month. This was followed by cars with an engine displacement of between 2 and 3 liters, which accounted for 32.2 percent.
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